Nonstop Shopping

From dawn to dusk, they came, they bought, they bargained

November 25, 2006|By Paul Owers Business Writer and Staff Writer Rachel Hatzipanagos contributed to this story.

She's five months' pregnant -- with her 11th child. But Shirley Antoine of Wellington still managed to cook a Thanksgiving feast for her family and head to the Best Buy in Boynton Beach by about 2 p.m. Thursday to ensure that she'd get a $750 laptop computer for $380.

When the store opened at 5 a.m. Friday, more than 750 people were in a line that snaked past a nail spa and sushi restaurant and looped around out back. Antoine was the first person there, passing the time with catnaps and nibbling on turkey, ham and green beans.

Wrapped in blankets and cradling cups of coffee, tens of thousands of early risers across Palm Beach County braved chilly temperatures in search of bargains on Black Friday, a retailer's nirvana and the official start to the holiday shopping season.

The day is so named because it helps many merchants turn a profit for the first time all year. It won't be the busiest shopping day of the season -- that likely will be Dec. 23, the Saturday before Christmas -- but it does give retailers an idea of how robust the coming weeks might be.

For the first time, chains such as B.J.'s Wholesale Club and CompUSA opened on Thanksgiving Day to jump-start the shopping blitz. Other retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us, continued a trend of opening in the pre-dawn darkness Friday.

Shoppers arrived at 3:30 a.m. at The Gardens mall in Palm Beach Gardens, hoping to be one of the first 350 people and snag $50 gift cards good at any of three athletic shoe stores.

The Town Center mall in Boca Raton opened at 5 a.m., three hours earlier than in past years. Foot traffic was relatively light before 8 a.m., but parking lots filled quickly by the afternoon.

The Mall at Wellington Green opened at 7 a.m., two hours after JCPenney and an hour after Macy's and Dillard's.

Plenty of Wellington area shoppers scooped up the door-buster department store sales and collapsed before 8 a.m. in the nearest chair, too tired to notice Santa and Mrs. Claus holding hands as they walked through the mall.

Two Black Friday veterans, Dawn DiBari and Tara Lee Martinez, showed no signs of fatigue, cheerily wearing matching red antlers that blinked. Neighbors in The Acreage, they loaded up on dinnerware and pots and pans at Macy's.

"The truth is, sometimes we buy a lot of things we don't really need because they're on sale," said Martinez, 41. "Not this year. We know what we want."

Toys R Us shoppers throughout the county focused largely on TMX Elmo.

Emma and Phil Rose of Parkland were second in line outside the chain's Boca store, arriving at 2:30 a.m. Emma, 34, grabbed three Elmos shortly after the doors flung open. Good thing, too. The toy was sold out within 15 minutes.

At the Boynton Best Buy, workers distributed tickets at 4 a.m. for laptops and other products, guaranteeing the first people in line would get what they wanted. But some shoppers were disappointed, complaining about limited quantities.

Demand for electronics has intensified in recent years, said Chris Roscoe, general manager of the Boynton store. "It's almost an I-have-to-have rather than an I-want," he said.

Antoine, the first customer, learned her lesson last year, showing up too late for a laptop. So she took drastic measures this time, leaving a house full of relatives to celebrate Thanksgiving without her.

"A laptop is more important right now," said Antoine, 41. "I can see them every day."

Behind her was Chris DeVito, 26, who camped outside a nearby Wal-Mart for a day and a half last week for Sony's PlayStation 3. "This is nothing for me," he said.

DeVito insists that spending Thanksgiving night in 40-degree temperatures was worth it, pointing out that he saved nearly $800 on a laptop and flat-screen television.

"Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to afford the things I'm getting," he said.

Not only is there a Black Friday, but now there's a Cyber Monday, too.

That phrase was coined last year by the National Retail Federation's online division, Shop.org, after retailers started noticing a spike in Internet sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The theory? Some people scour malls for merchandise but wait until they return to work and order as much as they can online during their lunch hours.

There's even a Web site, CyberMonday.com, where almost 400 online retailers post holiday promotions and savings.

Still, for many people, nothing beats the thrill of the malls and bustling big-box chains on the day after Thanksgiving.

"I love it," said Marlo Wilde, 36, waiting to pay at the Boynton Beach Best Buy. "It's more exciting to see it here than watching it on your computer."

Staff Writer Rachel Hatzipanagos contributed to this story.

Paul Owers can be reached at powers@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6529.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING

$665.91

Amount Palm Beach County consumers plan to spend per household this season.

$617.21

Nationwide average of holiday spending per household

ONLINE

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HOLIDAY SHOPPING

Holiday sales will rise 5 percent this year to more than $457 billion.

An estimated 137 million shoppers nationwide are expected this weekend.

Sales of gift cards will total almost $25 billion this year, a $6 billion increase over 2005.

About 61 million people will shop this year for gifts online from work, up from 51.7 million people last year.